Wednesday

Jul 10, 2019 at 3:30 PM

WORCESTER — Jessica Lofgren Curtin lives in a haunted house, so maybe it's not surprising she's enthused with everything paranormal. Lofgren Curtin, a special education teacher, writer and artist, says her love for everything spooky inspired her to create the "Haunted Worcester" podcast and website. "Haunted Worcester" collects and shares ghost stories from around the area, both online and through local live events.

"'Haunted Worcester' is all about giving the community an outlook for everything paranormal, because we feel like Worcester didn't have a place for people to do this. We wanted to create something different for listeners," Lofgren Curtin says.

Lofgren Curtin's not just sharing other people's stories, though: She always shares her own, as she did in third installment of the podcast.

"I come from a long line of women who can see beyond what everyone sees, meaning I see ghosts," she says. "I've been living in a haunted house most of my life. There seems to be a lot of activity around our house now and I think it's because my husband and I have been more open to it. We are just more accepting that it happens. I've seen different kinds of animals and seen even children walk through our house.

Lofgren Curtin hosts the podcast with technical assistance from her husband, John, a musician and writer.

"We wanted to make a podcast that was for anyone who liked hearing about ghosts and the paranormal. We were aiming for about 30 minutes each episode, to keep it short and make it so listeners can listen in the car or on the go and be able to finish the podcast," Lofgren Curtin says.

In the first installment, Lofgren Curtin and Kat Kimball talk about Worcester's death café. A death café is an informal gathering for the purpose of talking about death and spirituality over food and drink — usually tea and cake — which can take place anywhere. Kimball hosted Worcester's first death café after attending one in Cambridge. The first two local cafés were held at Rural Cemetery on Grove Street.

"One of our goals for Haunted Worcester and the podcast was to create a place where people can feel accepted talking about death," Lofgren Curtin says.

In the second installment, author Charles Longeway discussed Worcester's catacombs, which he wrote about in his book, "Worcester's Forgotten Catacombs: History of Worcester's Underground World."

Besides sharing and collecting ghost stories, "Haunted Worcester" also hosts open mic events, the first of which they recapped in the podcast's fourth installment. Talking about death and sharing personal stories isn't always easy, says Lofgren Curtin, but she believes they need to be told. "Talking to people about death is always hard because you don't know how they're going to react, but we do get a lot of people coming to our open mic events and they are very eager to share," Lofgren Curtin says.

Lofgren Curtin says she wasn't sure what to expect from the open mic, adding that the space was small and about 10 people attended. "We all ended up sitting in a circle together, sharing each other's ghost stories and experiences, which was perfect. We were doing readings first and then having conversations after along with cookies and tea," Lofgren Curtin says.

With the success of the first event, "Haunted Worcester" is eager to do more events in the fall.

"We want to have some tours of downtown Worcester and show people the history but also the paranormal side. With giving tours, having guest speakers at our open mics and podcasts are in the works, our goal is to always be able to educate listeners and viewers, but also have fun doing so. I want people, younger or older to know that if you have an idea to do something, do it! Sharing ghost stories together makes me feel less crazy, and I know there's others out there who want to be validated. I believe everyone has a paranormal story, they just haven't shared it yet," Lofgren Curtin says.